Yet Fiori seems to be denying that anything happened at all. And yesterday he announced that from February visitors to the excavators will be able to watch work in the House of the Chaste Lovers, by means of an open 'cantiere' (site) and a system of telecameras. Here is the press release, from ANSA.it:

Perhaps we're back to staging excavations again ... (some of you will know what I'm talking about!). Anyway, the whole incident is bizarre, and - to my mind - the most disturbing thing is that efforts were made to keep it quiet.